Music 205 - Topics in Popular Music: The Sacred Harp: A 19th C. American "Shapenote" Tunebook

Topics course: This course will examine the vibrant music, singing traditions, and cultural history of the American shape-note tunebook The Sacred Harp. First published in Georgia in 1844, the book is significant as both a repository of early American vernacular hymnody and as the focus of a continuing musical tradition. We will examine the ideas that shaped it, its early history in the primarily rural South, and the “pre-history” of shape-note music in Northampton. Assignments will be supplemented with group singing and archival research on local music history. The ability to read western notation is not required (prior experience with music making would be helpful).